Sudan’s Burhan dismisses police chief amid clashes

By Bahram Abdel Moneim

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AA) – Sudanese army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Monday removed the country’s police chief, Lieutenant-General Anan Hamed Mohammed Omar.

A military statement said that Omar was replaced by Lt. Gen. Khaled Hassan Mohiuddin as police chief.

The move came amid continuing clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group. Sudanese civilians have complained of a total absence of the police, looting and rampant insecurity amid the fighting.

More than 600 people have been killed and thousands injured in the clashes since April 15, according to Sudan’s Health Ministry.

On April 30, the RSF warned the Sudanese police of involvement in the clashes between the paramilitary group and the Sudanese army.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the RSF over the paramilitary group’s integration into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

Sudan's transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi